FROM THE MAGAZINE

Sam Smith Wants You to Belt Out His Spectre Theme Song at Drunk Karaoke

‘It’s been the greatest year of my life, but also, it messed with everything there is to mess with,” says Sam Smith, 23, about his enormously successful debut album (In the Lonely Hour). “It was draining and challenging,” he adds, “but nothing that a little therapy and a few hugs from my mum couldn’t sort.”

The London native, who won four Grammys and has sold more than eight million albums with his soulful voice and sad songs (including the No. 1 hit “Stay with Me”), talks with Lisa Robinson about fame, romance, landing the James Bond theme song, and singing while standing still.

Lisa Robinson: How did you react to being called “the male Adele”?

Sam Smith: Every artist is always going to be compared to someone, so to be compared to a woman who stands for everything I believe in music, I was firstly flattered. But it just shows that there aren’t many people in pop music at the moment who just stand onstage and sing.

Thankfully, you don’t have pyrotechnics, dancers, Zumba routines …

Don’t get me wrong, I love a massive show with dancers and the works and I love Zumba! But I just want there to be more people who just sing. I always thought if I became successful, I’d want everything to be bigger and bigger, but my plan for the next album is to strip it all back. It’s important to keep it all classy. I always ask myself, What would Frank [Sinatra] do?

Your first album had so many sad songs about unrequited love. Are you still lonely?

I will forever be a lonely soul. I am, however, no longer in love with someone who doesn’t love me back. I’ll be totally honest; I’m finding it hard at the moment to date and make sure people are into me and not the future of my bank account. But I’ve never really had a boyfriend, so I’ve never known any different.

You’ve talked a lot about one-night stands, but you also say you’re a romantic …

I find short, fast romances romantic. There’s a beauty to dark imagery. I had my first-ever relationship this year, and my job was the main thing that tore it apart. I’m not sure that I can juggle both. When I find the right person, nothing else will matter, but I’m prepared to kiss a lot of frogs.

How did you get to write and sing the always sought-after theme song (“Writing’s on the Wall”) for the new James Bond movie, Spectre?

Keeping that a secret was my own top-secret mission. I told my agents it was my dream to do it, they planted a seed, and the next thing I knew I was sitting in Pinewood Studios with Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli and they were handing me the script. I wrote the song with Jimmy Napes in literally 20 minutes; the vocal you hear is the demo vocal. I wanted to make something timeless and classy, an epic love song. A song that people can scream out while heartbroken and drunk at karaoke.

How did you feel when Tom Petty claimed “Stay with Me” was plagiarized from his “I Won’t Back Down”?

I was completely shocked and sad. His song came out however many years before I was born, and to this day I still haven’t listened to his song on principle. Tom wrote me a nice letter saying there are [just] so many notes on a piano, but it’s still a shame. No matter what though, “Stay with Me” is my song and my story—nothing can take that away.

Is the next album going to be even more personal and intimate?

I’m three songs in and it already is. My plan is just to love harder than I’ve ever loved before, hide nothing, and embrace that I’m an imperfect human being. Oh, and sadness—sadness is everything.

Lisa RobinsonPrior to joining Vanity Fair in 1999, contributing editor LISA ROBINSON was a longtime music columnist for the New York Post, The New York Times Syndicate, the host of syndicated radio and cable TV shows, and edited several rock magazines.